Somnolent
by lollipopFiasco
Summary: Ayumi is your typical Kingdom Hearts weeb with anxiety. Long story short, her heart is extracted from her and she becomes a Nobody. With her knowledge of the game's events, she acts as an advisor to Organization XIII. Will she let the fates of her newfound friends be jeopardized by the threatening leadership of Xehanort, or will actively prevent the loss of her teammates?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Alrighty so um hi! I basically wrote this because I've had the idea for this for a long... LONG time and I figured it would be more helpful in every way possible if I just finally wrote it out. Having an organization 13 oc is reallyyyy weeby but it's also pretty fun! I'm just going to have fun with this, however I'm going to be clearly putting a lot of work into it to make it a cool story that's at least written moderately well, cause I think it would give me practice writing and it would also be interesting for someone out there. So for that person, hi!**_

* * *

There is a gradual build of techno music for dramatic effect, then suddenly…

' _YOU'RE GIIIVING MEEEEEEEEEE, TOO MAAANY THIIIIIINGS, LATELY-_ '

"Ugh…" The girl woke up with a start, rubbing her eyes as she blindly hit her phone on her nightstand, trying to shut off her stupid alarm. Eventually, she somehow managed to hit snooze. Why does it have to be so loud… she thought to herself.

She drowsily stood up, and fumbled in the direction of her door. She stumbled and strategically walked through her room, avoiding tripping on the articles of clothing, perfume bottles, and books scattered haphazardly on her floor in, despite her being half asleep.

The girl luckily ended up in her hallway unscathed, stumbled straight to her bathroom with her eyes closed, and magically managed to not bump into the flower-covered walls.

She sleepily opened the bathroom door and flicked on the light switch. The bulbs above the mirror flickered on, showcasing the petite, and rather nice smelling bathroom in all its hygienic glory.

The girl walked to stand in front of her sink and rubbed her eyes open to reveal their baggy, deep brown hue back at her. She noted that her mahogany hair was disheveled and sticking up in all the wrong places, and needed to be brushed immediately. But her teeth were much more important than her hair at the moment, however, so she brushed her teeth to rid herself of her terrible breath. She then washed her face, leaving her olive skin feeling properly cleaned.

Once her routine was complete, she walked right back into her room and flopped back on her bed once more, not really caring if she messed up her hair or not. She was still dead tired, but while that was not unusual for this particular girl, she _really_ didn't want to get up just yet, so she curled up on her side and intended to stay there. She then grabbed her phone off the nightstand and pulled it close to her chest as she opened up her messenger app and read a few messages in her group chat from earlier that morning…

O _palFyre261: hey_ Seli _, ai, are you up guys up yet?_

 _OpalFyre261: ?_

 _SelenaWhite: I'm awake c:_

 _OpalFyre261: morning then! :D_

 _SelenaWhite: Good morning!_

 _OpalFyre261: so, are you guys hyped that we have an excuse to hang out today or what?!_

 _SelenaWhite: Yea, I am pretty excited, but not just to hang out! We're going on this trip to learn about all of the bio tech instruments and the other things the museum has to offer! :/_

 _OpalFyre261: you might be going there cause you care about all that school stuff but_ i _just wanna go to have some fun with you two!_

 _SelenaWhite: Well you should care about all this 'school stuff' Opal!_ There's _almost two weeks left until we go back :c_

 _OpalFyre261:_ i _know_ i _know, don't remind me…_

 _OpaFyre261: and anyways that just prove my point,_ i _mean_ weve _barely seen each other all summer!_

 _SelenaWhite: We just saw each other yesterday._

 _OpalFyre261: we gotta make the best out of a bad situation right?_ ayumi _back me up here_

 _OpalFyre261: ?_

 _OpalFyre261: ayumi?_

 _SelenaWhite: She's probably asleep._

 _OpalFyre261: as usual :P lmao_

Ayumi felt her stomach drop, she had almost forgotten about the field trip!

She let out a groan, dropping her phone on the covers and rolling over to face away from the device. She sighed, and curled in closer upon herself. Her chest tightening, as if her heart was trying to squeeze its way out of her body to avoid the anxiety building up in there. She really didn't feel like doing _anything_ today, let alone go to some bio tech museum. She didn't even want to go into a science field… or even have to think about school and going to college and her future. Everything was just really stressing her out, and she would rather not think about it right now.

Ayumi decided to just deal with it in a little bit…! Shit, wait her phone vibrated.

 _OpalFyre261: fuck *proves_

She really had to start getting ready… she had to at least try! She begrudgingly, with a determined look, got up and headed downstairs to make a quick breakfast.

She was still really tired, so she didn't feel like making anything too complicated like she usually did, she just fried a couple of eggs and made some toast. Once again, her multitude of cookbooks were left unread. She glanced at the digital clock on the oven, it read 10:25, her friends would be there to pick her up in about an hour, and she had just enough time to collect herself. She can get dressed in like a half an hour, and then chill out until they arrive.

And so she did. She put on a summery little dress, wore white leggings, and these really cute sandals. Summer was just starting to say goodbye, but it was late August so there was still a drop left! Especially with her living on a boardwalk, people will still be visiting the beach as usual even if she's in school, and it at least makes her _feel_ like school's not a thing.

Ayumi had a good half an hour before she'd getting picked up, so she had to choose what to do with her time. Would she read that book she's been putting off for like a week, or would she continue trying to beat the Saix data battle.

…

Fuck it. That asshole's going down.

She went in the living room, grabbed her ps3 controller, turned on the system and tv, then plopped down her couch. She could get in a good few battles before her friends arrived, and she damn well needed them. Somehow, she defeated every data battle with relative ease, yet, for some strange reason, but she could _not_ beat Siax's. I mean, Saix's data battle is supposed to be like the easiest one what the fuck? She was great at Kingdom Hearts games? Why this?

Donald and Goofy were useless and she honestly had no idea why she suspected any different, they died the second the battle started out, and would die again the second they got up. That wasn't important though, what mattered was that she got a couple of hits in when she could. Saix would deal a couple attacks, he would be vulnerable, she'd strike back. Didn't take long for him to be all glowy, which was not a good sign.

"Moon, shine down." FUCKFUCKFUCKGOTTa SLIde AWAaaYyaaaaannndddd he got her. Dammit. Now she could move cause he hit her and then he just gets to hit her more and aaAAUGHhhhhh! She lost.

But she's not giving up!

She _has_ to do this.

A couple of fights in, she almost pinned him. She got a hold of his stupid claymore at one point and brought down a good chunk of his health. Now she was just trading blows with him while he wasn't in his berserk mode. She almost had him, he had just one sliver of health left… she just needed to get one more-FUCK

SHE LOST!

HE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO KILL HER

WHY AND HOW?!

Ayumi let out a groan of defeat… okay more like a yell. Goddamit like that was her 100th death probably. And she got really close that time.

"Ayumi."

If Ayumi's heart wasn't racing before, it was now, her mom was running the shop who the fuck is-

"You're _still_ stuck on Saix?! How do you manage girl…"

She immediately let out a sigh of relief. _Oh_. It's Opal. She made an un-sigh of relief. Her friends got here so soon. Had it been that long already?

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhhhhh…. I was sooo cloooosee…" Ayumi dropped her head onto the back of the couch and playfully whined in annoyance.

"Your mom let us in by the way," Selena said thoughtfully, giving a concerned look to her defeated friend.

"I figured,"Ayumi replied.

"Come on dude, I'm sure you'll be able to beat'm _eventually_ ," Opal said with a smirk as she head locked her friend and gave her a gentle _not really_ noogie.

"Opal… heheh… quit it!" Ayumi giggled.

"And if you're still feelin' down you can battle Zexion again for the like billionth time and you could smooch'm a bunch. He issss your favvvve? Huh? Huh?" Opal continued as she started shaking around Ayumi playfully, like a snot nosed kid with ragdoll.

"Stoooopppppppp!" Ayumi comically whined while elbowing her in retaliation, trying to hide her smile but ultimately failing, letting a couple more giggles escape.

"See, I knew that _I_ of all people could cheer you up!"

The three were all laughing at this point with the comfort of their familiar friendship. As their mirth died down, however, Ayumi was suddenly curious…

"How long were you two watching me anyway?"

"We just walked in during that last fight."

"The whole thing?!"

"Yes. Sorry, we didn't let you know we were here… We didn't want to distract you…"

Ayumi smiled thankfully at Selena. "Heheh, thanks dude!" She was just the sweetest thing, honestly.

"Okay, well, we should head out now huh?"

"Yea… sorry for keeping you waiting…" Ayumi said guiltily. The three made their way downstairs, the sweet smelling flowers of her mother's shop saying farewell to them as Ayumi said goodbye to her mother. They all headed out the door together.

"No problem."

* * *

The ride to The Museum is surprisingly… quiet? Usually, none of them shut up and they talk and talk and talk about the stupidest things.

But… Not on this ride.

This time it was strangely quiet…

Here comes the stress-induced chest pain again.

The beach rolled by, a swarm of multicolored umbrellas and towels covered the sand, children ran around carelessly as the adults chatted idly by and cruised in the water. tourists basked in the last weeks of warmth and sunshine, making the most of their draining time. Ayumi looked out at the scene longingly.

The beach was soon replaced with wood and concrete, as they pass by buildings and buildings, then long stretches of roads.

It seemed to take ages to get there, and the silence was starting to get to her. When she looked towards her friends in an attempt to start some idle conversation, they were both just gazing out the windows.

That's funny, usually _Ayumi's_ the one who watches the world roll by and just chills out on long car rides in favor of talking, not the other way around.

It was strange to not hear a peep from the two of them… but honestly, she can't blame them.

Ayumi was nervous about going to this exhibit, due to her usual irrational anxiety of course; however… there was this strange, heavy sense of dread(?) that she never usually felt about these sort of things. It seemed to grow the closer they got to the museum.

Her heart started to beat faster the closer she got to the place, and she felt a chill run up her spine. There was a general sense of fogginess in her mind, as if something was trying to keep her from going there.

I mean yea sure that sounds crazy, Ayumi was never one to believe in spirits and ghosts and shit, but the only way she could describe this feeling was in the same way characters in horror novels would describe the presence of specters haunting their home. Maybe Opal and Selena can feel it too?

Either way, the rest of the ride remained oddly silent.

For some reason, field trips, college visits, and out-of-school-relatively-recreational-education-filled-activities usually take place on a day that it had rained just before. The setting is clear and common. The sky isn't too bright and warm in favor in a blanket of clouds giving off a grey glow. The grass leaning towards a cooler shade of green with dew drops hanging over it. The building the event takes place in is streaked with paint drips of water sliding down like an emo rainbow-paint windows XP background.

On any other day and in any other situation, Ayumi would love this aesthetic. She would lap up the smell of freshly fallen rain and the multitude of puddles to splash in, it's practically her natural habitat.

However… today was different, to say the least. That's mostly just because she gets really stressed though, as far as she knows nothing else is going to happen. Well I mean you're not dumb you probably read the description of this fic or if not you at least you're smart enough to guess that this is not just some random slice of life novel it's in the _Kingdom Hearts_ tag for fuck's sake, you know shit is about to go down. Ayumi obviously, isn't aware of this, so she knows not of her soon to be hell of a day. While she does worry, it's over the generalities of the future, not over the fact that something may happen today. Anything out of the blue will probably surprise her enough to give her a heart attack or something along the lines of that, she couldn't handle it.

She read the chrome bold letters _North Shore Institute of Biology_ on the building as they pulled into the parking lot, and she and her friends were off to find the section of building with "Exhibit Hall" on it in slightly smaller chrome letters.

"I thought you had a map!" Ayumi said as she stiffened with fear.

"I never said I did!" Opal said with a slight tilt to her tone, admitting her guilt although cheekily.

"Why wouldn't you have one?"

"I dunno, we don't need one right?! it'll be fine… right?!"

"It won't-"

"It probably will be, Ayumi. We can find it just fine on our own."

She sighed, trying to wash away her usual tension and this newfound spooky ass dread. "Thanks, Selena."

After what felt like an hour and a half but was actually 10 minutes, they found the Exhibition Hall! And right on time too, cause the large amount of other students waiting seems like just about the 30 that Selena remembered were supposed to be going, and their 3 might be the last few! It's bound to start riiiiiiight about now…

As Opal and Ayumi were sitting on a short cement wall watching something on Opal's phone, trying not to laugh at the dog walker across the street who was tripping over 2-15 Malteses, Selena got out her travel-sized notebook and planner then checked for anyone coming out the main door to greet them/be their guide.

 _No… she looks too angry for this… yea she walked by. Nah, he has a tray of something that looks important…._ yup _he took a right…. Oh! He has a clipboard and_ stu _… wait no, damn not him either…. oh!_ Another person with a clipboard came into view, but she had a stack of small glossy pamphlets too. She wore a lab coat over a business-y pencil skirt and buttoned up blazer. She was pretty damn tall, even without wearing heels, had red glasses, and her dirty blonde hair in a neat bun. Yea, that's her! She opened the front door with a prideful click, causing the surrounding soon-to-be high school seniors to glance up from their phones and conversations.

"Good afternoon students!" The lady said as she clasped her hands together in a comforting gesture, "I'm Ms. Barrette and I'll be your guide today! Please, come this way!"

"Awe sweet! She rhymed! Three times!"

"Shush, Opal!"

The inside of the facility was just as one would expect from an exhibit hall, and resembled a science museum more than anything. What differed it from a museum, however, was the occasional walking by of someone in a lab coat looking at them strangely, and the cleanliness.

It almost smelt like a hospital.

The group walked through the halls at a brisk pace, not because the students wanted to, but because it wouldn't surprise anyone if Dr. Barrette was revealed to actually be Usain Bolt in a librarian costume.

"So, Ms. Barrette?" Selena asked.

"Huh? Yes?" Ms. Barrette quickened her stride, as if caught off guard.

"What is it that you do here?"

"Any reason to ask?" She retorted, raising her brow.

"Oh, I didn't mean any offense Ms. Barrette, I just want to enter this field and I wanted to hear from someone working in it." Selena fumbled an apology with her usual sincerity.

"First of, never ask a lady her profession. However, since you must know, I'm working on a highly advanced and innovative project here with a couple other workers I've contracted. I'm running the program, actually." She smirked.

A couple of the touring students looked up from their dazes, and Selena let out a gasp. "Wow! That's amazing."

"Indeed. I was actually preparing to show you students what the project was all about at the end of the tour."

The students all gave quiet murmurs of approval, some made little quips of excitement, Opal and Ayumi groaned.

"It would be an honor!"

* * *

After going through about a 100 different hallways of weird stuff that Ayumi didn't even recognize from her textbooks, a lunch break that consisted of a sandwich wrap that actually wasn't half bad with some stale pretzels, and yet another 100 hallways of Things, the tour was over. Or, at least that's what Ayumi thought.

Ms. Barrette's tour was very linear, leading them farther and farther into the back of the facility until it eventually led to a small clearing in the hallway. It seemed like a spot to sit down where it was quiet. There were two benches, a small window on the far wall, and a water fountain. However, there was also the entranceway to another hallway there.

It wouldn't have been weird at all, if not for the fact that there were two dudes, just, guarding it? They were in pretty extra get up two, and their stupid outfits were familiar to the point where Ayumi was fidgeting around nervously. Opal seemed to have noticed as well, and she damn well looked like she was gonna deck the guys and ask them about it.

"Alright, now for the final stretch of the tour. Right this way." Ms. Barrette said as she lead them down the guarded hall. Opal never unlocked her eyes with the weird guards until they were out of sight and Ayumi pulled Selena close to the duo. She noticed something was wrong with the two of them and stayed huddled

The hall got darker as the group progressed through it, and there were minimal decorations and low light throughout its stretch. At the end of it was a large, spiraling staircase which did not forebode well. Ms. Barratte continued down, seemingly aware that a couple students were lagging behind (in fear) and slowed down her pace a bit for once.

Selena took in a breath to probably ask Miss where the _fuck_ they were going and why, but Ayumi stopped short.

"What's up?" Opal said in a hush.

Selena shook her a bit in questioning.

"I think… I know what the uniforms are from?"

"You do?!" Opal blurted out, too shocked to keep her voice down.

Selena responded in a manufactured calm "Wait. What are they?"

Ayumi pushed her hair out of her face nervously, "What the fuck. It's so stupid. I never would have expecte-"

"What are they?!" Opal whisper-shouted.

Ayumi took in a long, shaken breath.

"The guard uniforms from Radiant Garden, the ones from BBS."

There was a long silence where the group just continued walking.

"Now that you mention it…. Yea. What the fuck. Holy shit. They were…They so were? What the fuck!? Security guards wouldn't fuckin cosplay!?" Opal started.

" _Why though?_ " Selena rightfully asked to no one in particular. "Why would they even _make those? Something is wrong here_."

"CLEARLY!"

The entire tour group stopped and turned around to see the commotion. Ms. Barrette looked at them like she was a psycho murderer anime lady who was looking at her own reflection in the mirror and the glass cracked or something.

"Opal!" Selena berated.

"S-sorry!" She apologized, realizing she messed up big time.

Ms. Barrette turned all the way around and walked up the steps to where the trio was. "Does anyone here have any questions they'd like to ask?"

It was like she was spitting up venom.

No one said a word for a while, their collective nervous shaking was practically enough to cause an earthquake.

"Where are we going?" Ayumi sternly asked.

Ms. Barrette let out a premature ghost of a laugh, "To see the top secret experiments I do graciously let this group see." Ayumi's cold exterior was starting to crack under the pressure, her knees started to wobble. "Don't mess this up for your fellow students now, Miss Belweather." The tour guide turned around with a huff and continued walking.

Opal put herself between Ms. Barrette and Ayumi. No random lady uses her last name like that to scare her, that's for sure. Selena looked behind the group and noticed two more guards, dressed in the same uniforms as before, were following them. These guards also carted short batons. She didn't know whether to pick up the pace or not, and simply moved closer to her friends.

When they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Ms. Barrette continued, "Here were are conducting more… Controversial experiments. In my opinion, they are more than overdue," The group seemed rather torn with half being scared into silence and the other having hurried and hushed conversations, "And you should all be glad to know that you are all glad participants to our cause." She turned to her students with a completely calm and stable look on her face. As if, in fact, this was a _normal thing_ , and not _an insane thing_.

A couple of the kids started to cry, Ayumi's vision was growing blurry from tears. Opal balled her fists. "What are you talking about." She snarled harshly.

"Quite a temper with this one, I wonder if she'll be more powerful… hm…" She moved her notepad in front of her and jotted down a note.

"WHAT ARE YOU-" Opal suddenly choked as one of the guards grabbed her forcefully by the neck.

"Opal!" Ayumi cried out as Selena gasped, frozen in fear.

"You'll want to keep _that_ to a minimum while you're still here, patients!"

"Patients…" Ayumi muttered.

"Of course! You all will be prime subjects in our experiments on the heart, we like to call it Project Destati-" -she made a broad gesture with her hands- "-but even I think that's a little too on the nose…" Barrette rambled.

"F-from kingdom hearts?" Ayumi's voice started to crack.

"Ah! So you must know what I'm talking about right? Finally, someone who'll get what's going on here!" Her demeanor became surprisingly less serious, as she held her hands together in glee. Selena gave a look to Ayumi, like she was too busy restraining herself from punching the guard's face in to talk, and then glanced at the currently thrashing about Opal, and Ayumi jumped a little.

She raised her hand, "Excuse me, Miss- ah, I-I mean, Ms. Barrette? Me, Selena here, and my friend Opal are all avid KH fans." She attempted to giggle.

"Really then! Well why didn't you say so, You can release her." She made a shooing motion at the guard who rolled his eyes at her and released Opal. She hit the ground and hacked and coughed her lungs out. Her friends rushed to her side, and brought her to her feet. "So, I'll keep the explanation brief then-"

There were a couple of sharp hacks before Opal muttered, "You can't be serious." Her voice was hoarse.

Ms. Barrette narrowed her eyes. "What."

"I said," there were a few more coughs, "you can't be serious."

Well she done fucked, Ms. Barrette loomed over them. "Elaborate."

"I got a D in biology and even I know that no doctor in their right _mind_ would do anything serious regarding a video game, you've got to be fucking with us." Despite her gravelly voice, Opal still tried to sound menacing.

"Well, maybe I'm NOT a doctor, alright?! Look, I am basing this after scientific FACT I've discovered and correlated to the properties of the heart, no _high school junior_ is going to question _MY RESEARCH_!" The whole group backed off, and Opal wiped the sweat off her brow and kept to herself.

She took in a long breath and forcefully let it out, putting a hand to her forehead, "If you even so much as care about the reason you are more than likely dying very soon, I recommend. Staying. Quiet." No one made a sound.

"I discovered a wavelength in the body that was very faint yet all throughout that grew in strength the more emotional select individuals got, and the closer someone was to death. I thought at first it might be what we call a Soul, but now I know it to be a Heart. Not the typical organ," She looked to the trio, "You know what I mean. I figured out a method of being able to view the wavelength more strongly, and I believe that I have made a device that will be able to store Hearts for further experimentation. I selected you, my students, as each of your recommendations your teachers sent in all mentioned you being strong willed. That will for certain make it easier to keep your Hearts around."

A student made a run for it. A guard quickly caught him, knocked him out with his baton, and slung him over his shoulder.

This seemed to make it all too real for the rest of the group. They all started crying, panicking, and demanding to be let go. More guards just came in and grabbed all of the students, incapacitating those who were too squirmy.

Unluckily, this meant Opal and Selena were knocked out within a few moments.

" _Opal! Selena!_ " Ayumi couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She was crying as quietly as she could to try and avoid being knocked out. It couldn't end like this. Not now. She had to try and find a way out of here.

They were taken into a large room. One with many metal tables. They were all vertically slanted so that whoever was in it would be practically upright. They also had straps for the limbs and a rounded plate for the head. Above each of them was a device with a lot of wire and cylinders connecting to the ceiling. There was a long needle extruding from it. Something about it seemed… more corporeal somehow.

Each of the guards strapped the student they were holding onto the table, being very careful not to touch the needle. Some students were screaming and thrashing too much and were knocked out before being put in. The boy across from her was quietly reciting something in another language, something most likely religious.

The trio ended up being at the very back of the room, right next to a large window to some sort of observation room, Ms. Barrette was sitting next to a bunch of monitors. To Ayumi's right was Opal. To her left was Selena. She tried to talk to them, to get them to wake up. She couldn't.

Once everyone was in place, the guards left the testing room in an orderly fashion. The second the last one was out the door, Ayumi started struggling, trying to break loose of the straps. It was no use. Barrette was saying something, she couldn't hear what it was. The monitors in the room lit up and some kind of mechanical whirring was heard close by. The machines started to light up, and the needles started to get closer and closer to the students. Ayumi never stopped her struggle, she tried to pull her hands through the straps, she kicked her feet to try and break free. They never budged. She was crying, what could she do.

"I'm sorry, Opal. Selena." She sobbed. "I couldn't save us."

The needle pierced her directly where her heart would be. it felted as though she was being simultaneously being ripped apart and lifted off the ground. Everything went black.

* * *

Suddenly, she was falling down. Ayumi didn't know how, but she was falling. She didn't know where she was, how she was, and barely who she was, she was simply falling.

The air felt heavy, almost as if it wasn't air at all. It whizzed past her face and left a nice, cooling feeling. She tried to open her eyes, and once she did she was left with a sea of blackness. She gasped, opening her eyes wide and looking around her, although, she really wasn't as shocked as she should be, or at least, she didn't think she was. She noticed her perpetual state of motion, and her lack of gravity, and tried to turn and face the direction she was falling. She managed to turn around, and squinted her eyes through the air(?) and put her hand above her eyes in an attempt to see anything in the distance.

Almost as if the space she was in _knew_ Ayumi had turned around, something pink sparkled in the horizon(?). As she neared it, she could make out a figure, not on the platform, but printed _upon_ it, it was a large circular platform of stained glass. She was now close enough to notice, that that figure was _her_. She took in a breath and, was almost near enough to land on it, she tried to position herself to land, but once she made contact she stumbled, almost falling in the glass. She steadied herself in a very careful manner as if the glass were to shatter if she stepped on it the wrong way. She didn't realize why she thought it would.

She gazed upon the piece of art beneath her, and was stunned. The portrait, although being stained glass, almost had a watercolor feel to it despite the thick lines. She was perfectly depicted, they even got her thick eyelashes right. It looked as if the girl depicted was in a deep slumber; although she wasn't peaceful. It also did not feel like the girl in front of her was her. She did not know why.

She(?) was wearing the outfit she had put on today, and behind her was a collection of pink and white flowers, carnations and chamomile, her two favorites. Around her were a collection of circles. she walked around the edge to get a good look at them. There was a cluster of pink carnations, then a cluster of chamomile, an open book with its text illegible, a bar of ice cream, some more flowers, and in the center, perfume bottles?

Ayumi(?) then noticed the collection of circles above her form. There was a portrait of Opal, one of Selena, her mother, and then two indiscernible silhouetted faces. She stared at one of the blacked out figures for quite a while swearing she knew who it was, then focused her attention on her two friends. She did not know why, but looking at them brought her anxiety and sorrow, or at least she knew that it should.

Suddenly, she realized why. She jumped back with a start. "Opal… Selena…" She said to no one in particular. They were experimented on… with some stupid kingdom hearts thing… by a crazy lady? And we're fucking killed.

It didn't phase her as much as she figured it would that her two closest friends were dead, what she really wondered was… "How did I get here."

With another thought, she remembered. "This is a… a station of awakening? The stained glass from some of the KH games… Is this… mine?"

She didn't have time to realize that this place was her heart because the platform started getting cloudy with a black, inky substance.

"W-wha?!" She backed away from the edge, which had clouds of darkness creeping its way towards her. She looked behind her and the dark clouds were around the entire edge of the circles. She stopped trying to get away when she reached the center.

She heard a noise behind her, something small and minute, almost as if something was scratching a silky fabric. She turned to the source of the sound to see a little, black, ant-like creature melting up from the darkness. It's antennae twitched and it looked at her with its black beady eyes with what looked like… perhaps, curiosity? "Shadow." She said in a whisper.

More and more of the creatures started to materialize around her, they began to attempt to attack her. Something was in her hands now, she didn't know what they were but they felt as if they were meant to fit there.

She didn't know what she was doing, in an almost animalistic rage she started slashing and stabbing the heartless, they clawed at her, leaving a mark on her arm. She continued on, she never had fought anything before and yet it felt as if she was made to do this. She managed to kill a good number of them, but more and more started to spawn.

She let out a loud half groan/half scream at the realization that she had made no progress in keeping the shadows at bay. "What is going ON!?"

The darkness expanded twofold, curling and wafting into the air above the platform, leaving the odd trails of purple in its wake. It ensnared her feet and started to engulf her. The shadows took the opportunity to pounce, scratching and clawing and doing their best to harm her.

There was nothing left of the platform, and nothing left of her

She didn't cry.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Okay so do any of y'all wanna help proofread this shitty ass kingdom hearts fic**_

 _ **I need someone to help me out i can't tell if my own writing is good or not from starin at it all day**_

 _ **idk man i don't know anyone really well who plays KH, and honestly, i don't want to show my besties this stupid ass shit ya know? like if you'd be interested in helpin out pm me.**_

 _ **In all seriousness, thanks for takin the time to read this! it really makes my day :Dc**_

* * *

"Finally. After all of this hard work and preparation, it works!" There was a strong gust, not necessarily of wind, but of power.

Perhaps it was the light escaping from her subjects bodies as their souls were being torn from their flesh. More likely, The darkness harboring inside them had finally grown to a boiling pitch and found a way to escape their mortal forms. Well, whatever it was it was causing still quite a strong breeze that had blown Ms. Barette's hair out of its ponytail, sending it fluttering through the nonexistent wind.

"You know for a moment there I didn't think this would actually work," she said to no one in particular, "I'm shocked, to say the least. Well…thinking about it I always knew I was great enough to do this, so no I'm not surprised at all…" As she said that, several dark shadows materialized on the ground, and they slowly started to rise up as spindly bodies began to form, writhing with a new found energy. Soon there were different shapes. The only two that were notable were similar to the previous insect-like creatures except a much larger and with a much fiercer demeanor. Unsurprisingly those two spawned beside the cots of Selena and Opal, as their old bodies laid limp and lifeless.

Some of Ms. Barrette's assistants scribbled this down. "Ah! How wonderful! Some of the students were strong enough to produce more powerful heartless. Haha! They're even Neoshadows… This I'll have to admit I did not expect." She tapped her pen to her chin thoughtfully and bit the end of it.

All of a sudden the newfound creatures turned to face their creator. Either they were recognizing that she had given them their existence, or they gravitated towards her bountiful darkness. She grinned back at them now knowingly. A purple aura began to actualize around her. The inky blackness seeped up from her palms traversing up her arm. She lifted her hands and flexed them to test the waters as the substance seemed to react to her movements and will. "Ah…" She closed her eyes and relished in this newfound power. It felt entirely foreign to her, but… right.

All of the heartless seem to have materialized in the room, all but one. It had then appeared in a cloud of pink smoke shaking off the dust particles from whatever magic it had come from. "Hm. A Pink Concerto…"

* * *

t

* * *

She awoke with a start.

Was her pulse racing, or had it grown deathly silent.

She did not know, she did not care.

Something was calling out to her.

She snatched it out of the air, the pink thing was squirming, trying to flee from the grasp while also being magnetically being drawn toward it.

The girl crushed it like a bug, and it withered into black smoke.

She whipped her head towards the observation room. Her eyes glistened with a terrifying combination of bloodlust and indifference.

There were sounds of calamity and turmoil coming from the room and rushed cacophonous movement. _This should not be possibleShe produced a heartless how could she be awake?HerHeartVitalsReadNegative_

With an inhuman speed, she rose up from the metal bed that bound her. The action was so fast that the leather straps holding her down made the quietest of sounds when they snapped (if they ever did).

Just as quickly as she had gotten up, if not even more so, she flashed up to the door leading to the observation area. The heartless around her reacted to her presence negatively. Some hissing and backing away, and others growling and moving into a feral attacking position.

The girl(?) forced her palm before her, causing the door to blast open, breaking off of its hinges and causing a loud crash.

There may have been screaming.

It was difficult to tell.

There were sharp things in her hands, or were they round? They slashed the men's throats, tore through their flesh, and sawed through their limbs in one fell swoop.

The lady fell victim to the fear she onced used as the dark aura around her suddenly snapped to devour herthesharpobjectpiercedherbeatingheart.

Her glasses shattered once she hit the floor.

The girl picked up the woman she had just killed by the collar jerking her around as if she would come back and replace with had been lost. Her neck spilled everywhere and flopped around when she was shaken. Her screaming turned to sobs as she beat against the woman's chest itwastheonlythingsheknewtodoShe then dropped her once again and backed away with a clang.

Crying, for a moment, out not of sadness or anger or fear, but of emptiness.

Her breathing turned to frightened panting and she ran. she ran past the heartless, she ran up the stairs, she ran through the halls.

She didn't care where she was going.

She got many a confused stare from the innocent staff that she rushed past, but many of them were preoccupied, being concerned with something much greater.

She fumbled with the door and burst outside. She looked to the small courtyard before the entrance to the building and winced in pain bringing her hand to her head.

something had happened here but she did not know what. something here was nice but she did not know whatsomethingherewassafebutshecouldnotrememberwhat

she bolted again

she ran down the street both with a controlled and calculated sprint but her demeanor was pleading and she always looked as if she was about to trip on nothing nothing _nothingnothing_

she skidded to a stop and put both of her hands on her head and screamed but no sound came out no sound no sound no no no no

were there tears in her eyes she could not tell were there tears in her eyes she did not care but she should she should she should shouldn't shouldn't didn't why was there a didn't there shouldn't be a didn't

despite the fact that she was on a busy street nobody stopped to look at her nobody stopped to notice they were too busy staring at the sky feeling as if something something nothing was amiss like the air was water and it was coursing over them both slowly and too fast to be comfortable it was heavy and dark

Then something rippled through the water perhapsitwasthelightescapingfromhersubjectsbodiesastheirsoulswerebeingtornfromtheirfleshmorelikelythedarknessdarkness darknessharboringinsidethemhadfinallygrowntoaboilingpitchandfpundpawaytoescapetheirmortalformswell-the bystander suspicion of halutination was confirmed to in actuality be all too real as after another ripple the sky exploded with a black and purple storm of malice and rage and death-whatever it was it was causing still quite a raptureascreamapanicarushforsafefy

she gazed at the storm longer than most of the others had showing both no sign of fear and potent adrenaline

it seemed to be spreading

spreading fast

another ripple in the waters of reality as the storm not only was in the sky the storm is now on the ground causing dark clouds to form no not cloud shadows they were shadows the shadows were rising from the ground the shadows are from the ground they're insectoids they're ant-like creatures ahhowwonderfulsomeofthe studentswerestrongenoughtoproducemorepowerfulheartlessheartless _heartless_ hahatheyre evenneoshadows

they begin reaching out for the others _hearts hearts hearts_ around her they had hearts they had hearts they clawed at their necks slashed their skin and pierced the centers of their circulatory system she still had a circulatory _heart_ system she must have she had to why were they avoiding her they were avoiding her

she ran she ran she went she ran she didn't know where to go she didn't have a place to go she didn't have where was it she didn't have it what was it where did I go where is it

she had to find it had to find it had to find it it's gone she should have it she had to find it

she couldn't she couldn't find it it was gone she knew it was gone she crushed it it was gone like a bug she crushed it she crushed it it was gone

she ran until she saw somewhere to go she found somewhere to go it was an alleyway an alley they were avoiding her why were they avoiding her

she did not have a home she had to get home she didn't have it but she had to go there where was it she had to find it a home was not it but she had to find it

she was panicking yet she was not and she had to get home there had to be a home

instinctually she pulled her arm out wasitherswasitherarmshecanfeelityetshecannot The same dark aura surrounding Ms. Barrette was now surrounding her. It was something that she had as well.

There was a sound that she had heard before enough times to recognize what it was by ear it also hurt her head it was something nice and the safe people. The noise was not only a noise but a dark, another storm.

But this storm was personal this storm was hers it was not wild and manic with birth but controlled and relaxed calling to her.

She calmed with the storm before her, as the one above her twisted with chaos and destruction.

The purple and black that she had brought forth she felt would not harm her. Did she even feel it? She supposed it didn't matter. She knew where it would lead she knew it would be a home.

She knew that wherever this place was it had to be safe and that's where she needs to be right now. She needs to be safe.

The heartless were everywhere now, they covered every surface. They spawned fervently wherever they could, threatening to flood the world.

She stepped through the portal.

As she did the place from whence she came was enveloped in darkness.

* * *

The girl stepped through to the other side, can she even be called a girl now? Her old name doesn't suit her anymore, she is not who she was just moments ago, and she doesn't know why. She does know, however, that she's tired. Going through that portal sure was possible for her to do, but the darkness that it was created from was more potent than she has ever had to bear. It had hurt her, left her weak.

Where was she? Was this home?

She tried to push on but she couldn't anymore. She collapsed on the dark concrete before her. Her form was illuminated by the neon signs around her. All she could do was lie there and hear the falling rain around her.

* * *

He paused for a moment and looked up from his work with a small gasp.

Usually, it takes a lot to distract him from whatever he's doing, whether it be just some light reading, or working on a serious project (like he is now). However, something had grabbed his attention.

The organization has had 12 members for a good while, long enough to where he had grown used to the newer members by now. He knows each of their scents, as he is practically forced to constantly be in their presence. No one new was added to the organization, and no one else knew where this world was, so _why was there a new scent?_

And this one was awfully obnoxious, it was literally, dangerously noxious. Zexion hasn't smelt perfume that strong in his entire life, let alone even met someone that used enough perfume to bother his sensitive nose.

He put a hand to his nose and sighed, "Vexen… are you working on some kind of perfume or something?"

The scientist turned around sharply, and despite the fact that he was asked a simple and straightforward question he still managed to be pissy about it. "Why on earth would I make perfume?! We're on a strict schedule here with these replicas, why would I put that down for perfume?!" Vexen rambled on about how ridiculous it was for another minute (which Zexion couldn't pay attention to due to the smell), and then sighed, "What even made you think of it anyway?"

Zexion looked towards the direction the scent was coming from which was especially strange because he was currently seeing the dark city below them, "I detect an unidentified scent, either a strong heartless showed up, or there is someone else here."

"Oh?" The older scientist questioned, then paused for a moment, "Are you sure?"

"That depends, you wouldn't happen to know if Marluxia has recently purchased some new perfume, would you?" Zexion looked like the cat that caught the canary.

Vexen wouldn't stop yelling at him the whole way to Where Nothing Gathers.

* * *

Ayumi(?) didn't remember where she was. She knew that she just attacked someone or something, that a really bad thing must've happened, and that lying in the rain for god knows how long was, in fact, uncomfortable as all hell. She also knew that whoever was speaking needed to quiet down because she's tired and probably dying.

"H… You better get up er' Xe…. Come o….…..Akey eggs-and-backey…" Wait, who was this guy? He sounded vaguely familiar.

Suddenly, she was kicked over from her position on her stomach. She grabbed her arm in pain where the boot hit her and sat up shocked. She blinked through her exhaustion trying to see who had just pushed her, and once she did, she immediately got on her feet.

The man reeled back a bit too, but it was only ironically and with an ingenuine gasp. He grinned, "Oh! Hey, no need to get violent here missy. Sorry for kickin' ya just there and messin' with your beauty sleep but there's more important shit to deal with at-"

"Xigbar?"

He suddenly wasn't so funny anymore. His cocky smile faded and what was left was a half-snarl, "Seems like you've already been introduced, huh?"

Xigbar summoned one of his Sharpshooters and dashed forward. He slammed the girl into a building; one of his arms held the gun to her chest while the other pinned her by the neck, "You shouldn't fuckin know that… Who are you?"

From her expression alone it didn't seem like she was in this current situation. There was an eerie calmness to her as if she was on some sort of autopilot. Either she was too tired from all of this, or she mentally couldn't process things correctly yet. She struggled to speak, "From the video game…"

One of Xigbar's eyebrows raised and his face scrunched up a bit in confusion, "The what?"

"Kingdom Hearts…"

He slammed her into the wall again, "You shouldn't know about that either?! What kinda shit are you spewin'?"

She looked off into the distance, as if she couldn't concentrate but was trying really hard to, "You're… in the organization with everyone else….. it's Kingdom Hearts?"

"Alright, I'm sick of dealing with this," He lifted her away from the wall and then hit the back of her head with the butt of his gun instantly knocking her out. "Xeh's gonna lose his shit when he hears about this."

* * *

Once again, she woke up. However, much more slowly than the previous times. She opened her eyes, and in her drowsy state expected to be met with the familiar sight of her room, when she wasn't, she quickly sat up. She was confused and panicked, not entirely sure how she ended up in this place, and who was the interior designer? White sure does make furniture look fancy, but the pain it would cause for people's eyes when just waking up should be taken into account.

Speaking of pain, she had a _killer_ headache. The rest of her wasn't faring so well either. It felt like she had both ran a marathon and has been lifting some weights, which was really strange because she would certainly never work out for any reason ever.

"Where…" Her voice was quiet and raspy, she put her hand up to her mouth as if she could somehow soothe it, "Where the fuck am I?" She attempted to get up from the bed and leave, but her headache got even worse so she sat back down.

Why couldn't she remembered how she got here… or where she was… She ran through in her head what had happened today. _Okay, so I woke up, I played some games. Opal and Selena came over and we…_ we went _to that place? We went on the tour… then that lady…_ she took _us somewhere? There was screaming?_

She closed her eyes and sighed. Once she opened her eyes, however, they widened and she reeled back.

Her hands… Were covered in blood.

She started to shake.

They were sticky… like some parts of it were dry while others were lightly washed away.

 _What…..What the fuck…. Why is this… what is._

A gasp.

She remembered. " _Oh._ "

Her headache faded a bit, and she looked up at the room again. "Holy fuck." The room was all white, sure, but the walls and floors were patterned with random technological patches of circuitry and wiring ranging from grey to dark blue. There wasn't much in the room besides what looked like the door to a closet, a desk with a window above it leading to the night(?) sky, and the bed she was currently on up against the wall. She turned to the face the backboard. A familiar and foreboding sigil was staring back at her. "Oh… my god."

She braced herself emotionally expecting shock and fear and mourning for her home. Expecting sadness and hopelessness in her current situation. That feeling never came. In fact, no feeling came. Nothing. She put a hand to where her heart would be, and closed her fist, attempting a solemn expression.

"I'm… I'm a no-" The door at the front of the room clicked. She jumped up a little and faced the doorway. Huh, guess she still had fear like instincts, must be adrenaline.

The door opened, revealing Xigbar. He leaned on the doorframe as if he would have been smirking, but he tried to keep a stern expression. He had one of his Sharpshooters out and was waving it menacingly. She looked at him blankly for a moment, then blinked, and gave him a confused and concerned expression. "The Superior would like to have a word with you," he then left rather abruptly. She figured Xigbar meant for her to follow him, so she got up, winced a little bit, then made a little stride with him to catch up. She ended up walking a considerable amount behind him.

They walked down the halls. The walls were decorated the same way that the room she was just in was, with the weird electrical patterns. They were empty, and this hall had a slight inward curve to it. The two opened a set of doors into another part of the hall, it was a little wider and there was a set of windows on the left side. She turned to look at the city below. It was just as she remembered it, dark, and vacant. If she looked carefully enough she could actually see small dark figures being illuminated by the cold neon signs. They looked even more like ants from this distance. The sky was swirling black and purple, reminding her of what happened in her world just hours ago… was it hours? It was hard to tell what time it was here… maybe that was the point? She was quickly broken away from her musing as Xigbar spoke.

"Figured you passed out from using a dark portal to get here. Didn't you know it was dangerous to use one of those things without some sort of protection?" He pulled at the collar of his hood, "If you're too _weak of heart, that is._ " He waved his hand back at her demandingly and chuckled, "So we'll have'ta walk instead of using some fast travel for a change."

 _Damn… He sounds just like he does in the games… just… How the fuck is this happening?!_ She silently followed him for a while, staring at the floor in thought for a moment.

They turned a hallway, " _Wait_ ," The girl said. Xigbar stopped, his boots clicking the ground. It echoed through the long hallway they just walked into. She knew that she should be nervous the eyepatch man with a yellow fucking eye staring at her, but she wasn't afraid. She'd have to get used to that, "If I'm so 'weak of heart'... well how did I become a powerful nobody like this in the first place?" Despite the fact that she easily could've have been, she wasn't a smart ass about it. She gave him a genuine expression of certainty and curiosity, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Hm, clever," He continued walking, "But even Nobodies as powerful as us can vary in strength, kid…'Specially ones's young as you."

They turned again after opening another closed set of doors. They were met with an elevator that was unnecessarily large. As Xigbar opened it and walked inside, she remembered those fights with nobodies on the elevator in KH2, and reluctantly stepped inside. The door slid closed and with a click, they were sent upwards. Each floor they ascended left a band of light shining through the windows.

"So," the girl asked, being cautious, "What exactly does Xemnas want to see me for?" She stood perfectly still, her hands behind her back as she looked to the elevator door, What are they going to do with me?

Xigbar looked at her like she just answered her own question, which she did, "Well, first of all, it's Superior. Xeh wants ta see ya cause you somehow _know_ his name is Xemnas... No one should know anything about us, let alone a newborn-psychic-perfume nobody."

 _Wait…. Perfume?_ She blinked and clenched her fists at her sides. _My... My weapons?_ "How do you know ab-" The elevator stopped and the door slid open. Xigbar just continued walking without a word. She followed him out, and they shut behind her. This hallway was wide and slightly brighter.

As they continued on, she began to register that she should be far more nervous… _So… If this insane bullshit isn't some sort of dream, then I'm in kingdom hearts or something? No… that's not it… I didn't_ like _enter a ps2 or whatever I made a portal here… and the heartless stormed my… oh! My_ world ! _So maybe my world in the same, universe per se? As the ones in KH?_

Their walking was synchronous for a second, and it was distracting enough to remove her from her thoughts. _But that's not important right now. I'm in The World That Never Was. Xemnas, no Xehanort wants to see me. What do I do? Should I stay here and join them… or leave._

She held her hand to her chest again, Where would I even go… She sighed and resolved to just roll with it and join, it was probably a dream anyways. _They don't need any more members than thirteen though, Xehanort would have no use for me, and I have a serious risk of dying for real._

 _Speaking of..._ She miscalculated a step, her heel clicking on the ground arrhythmically, w _ould I be turned into another Xehanort? Fuck. What do I do?_

Xigbar stopped, and just as she looked up at the large set of doors, she got an idea.

* * *

The doors pushed open themselves and Xigbar walked up towards them. The girl followed them in. Xigbar didn't even bother with walking at this point, he simply teleported away in a cloud of black and purple smoke. Surprised by this, she looked around the room she was in trying to see where he went. She looked up to see im perched in his proper seat next to Xemnas. She gulped, because it was hard to break the habit of feeling things your whole goddamn life, and walked forward. Her heels clicked on the circular platform before her, stopping in the center of the Nobody sigil. She looked around the rest of the room. The chairs were high enough to make her nervous despite the fact that she doesn't have a fear of heights and isn't even in one of the chairs. The ceiling was… well, there wasn't a ceiling really, it just seemed to dissipate into a white fog, which while impossible, did set the atmosphere pretty well, I guess?

She also noticed that there were only 12 chairs, which was rather odd for Organization _13_.

Xemnas spoke, his voice was gravely and filled with underlying rage, yet was somehow calm. "You." The girl couldn't breathe. "You should not be here." She looked to the ground like she could find the answers there. "How did you get to this world, no one should know about it, and yet…"

"Well…" She hesitated, she knew that she had to be careful… one wrong move and... "I was turned into a nobody, I was murdered… My home was being destroyed by the darkness, and I didn't know where to go so I guess my natural instinct was to make a portal…. And it took me here?"

Xemnas hummed in thought, and then asked again "But how did you know of this place? Number two has told me that you mentioned Kingdom Hearts along with some type of 'Video Game'" Just hearing fucking Xemnas saying shit out loud would have definitely been enough to drive her over the edge if she still was human. Xigbar looked at her with curiosity, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward.

"He's not wrong. I knew about this place because in the World that I am from, this place," She trailed off trying to find the words to describe it, "Everything in this universe and all of the events that take place here are… in a video game. They're like a story, and I've 'read' almost all of it."

There was silence for a long while, because no shit, that sounds goddamn ridiculous. Well, because it is, but that's besides the point.

"How much," Xemnas finally said, "Do you know?"

The girl was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Practically everything. From the Keyblade war and the foretellers, everything about Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Light, darkness, the king… And if I am correct in assuming," She looked again at the 12 chairs around her and tried to make herself look grim and serious, "The future of this organization."

"... Go on." Xemnas leaned in as well, which both made her both relieved and even more terrified.

"I know that later on, you're going to use Sora's nobody to use the keyblade, collect hearts, and create kingdom hearts. I also know that you are going to replicate said nobody, and use her as well." Xemnas narrowed his eyes and waited for another moment.

Xigbar scoffed, "As if."

"I do not believe you. While you do undoubtedly possess unworldly knowledge, your story is far too incredulous to believe." He clasped his hand together on his lap and motioned to Xigbar. "Taker her awa-"

"I…" She interjected suddenly causing Xemnas to look at her. There was rage hidden in those cold eyes, but she had nothing to lose. She steeled herself and balled her fist "I can prove it… There's gotta be…" She patted her pockets to see if there was something, anything, that could help her prove her case. There wasn't any type of merch to be found, hell, nothing of value was in them… damn. They stared at her, waiting for whatever it was that she had. "Wait!" She gasped in recollection. She reached toward her neck, pulling at the chain on it. "Here!"

She looked up at them, but the object was too far away for Xemnas to see. He lifted his hand, and suddenly she disappeared in a blur of void, only to reappear a moment later, floating in the air before them. She glanced around frantically, for a moment, remembering the Twilight Thorn from KH2. Xemnas was looking at her impatiently, and she sighed, at least for the time being she wasn't dead.

"H-here." She pulled out the charm on her necklace towards them, showing the two what it was.

There was a moment of deserved and awkward silence.

"Is… that…" Xemnas' eyes furrowed.

Xigbar gawked, then gave a confused smirk, "Why do you have a necklace with a mini Vexen's shield on it?!" He looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh.

"The Lexicon one looked stupid…" She answered lamely, "But, look, that's not the point, see? It was manufactured by some big corperations." She turned it around to reveal a lasered in Disney logo, copyright information, and a 'made in china' label. "Look, I know this is stupid and frankly fucking ridiculous, but I know there isn't anywhere around here where you could get this sort of thing."

Xemnas flicked his hard towards him, causing the girl to quickly be pulled closer. She gasped, as this was extremely intimidating. Xemnas held the little charm, careful not to touch the sharp spikes on top. He examined it, and after a while, it seemed like he saw all he needed to see. He flew her back again and said, "Such a thing can be easily fabricated," The girl stiffened, "As you said yourself, we need a user of the keyblade as our thirteenth member and you're not one of them. We do not need-"

"No!" She cried out. She had to try, she had to try and live. "I can be useful to you." Xemnas looked at her frustrated and took in a breath to say something, but she cut him off again before he could.

She shook a little, unsure if this was the action she should take. But it was the last trick up her sleeve, her last resort.

She took in a quick breath, "I know more than you think I do…" She steeled her face into something cold, dead, and sinister,"...Terra."

Xigbar was shocked, for real this time. He looked at Xemnas wordlessly and caught off guard.

Xemnas himself was surprised as well, his face flashed briefly with fury, then he calmed down. He clasped his hands together, "How can you be ' useful' ?!"

She visibly relaxed, knowing she had won. "I know all about the Organization and what happens to it from these games. You fail at utilizing Kingdom Hearts. It's ripped from your clutches before you can use it as intended."

"How?" Xemnas asked.

"Sora."

"Of course." He said dejectedly.

"I can help you with that, however, I know what you do and what you don't do. I could advise you on actions to take. Lead you down the right path, and get you what you desire."

Xemnas… actually looked like he was seriously considering it. She couldn't believe this was really working. It was a lot easier to fake a fearful and genuine expression as a nobody, and it was also way easier to lie. He smirked as if he got an idea.

"On one condition…" Xemnas looked at her curiously and motioned for her to continue. "Look, I know your whole secret plan here. You're going to turn all of the members here into vessels for your heart and recreate the 13 seekers of darkness. Hell, you already have two of them don't you?" Xigbar snarled. Xemnas didn't seem fazed, but his smirk fell. "I don't want anything to do with that. In exchange for giving you information, I get to keep my soul intact," She reached out her hand, "Is that a deal?"

Xemnas took her hand to Xigbars surprise and shook it.

"Retire to your quarters for the night," _Ah! It was night…_ " and in the morning return here, you will explain everything you know about us, and everything that has happened to me, and then I will call a meeting to officially recruit you, Number Thirteen."

"Wait! Thirteen and Fourteen are already taken, remember?"

He looked at her confused for a moment, and then smirked. "Ah. Of course, _Number Fifteen._ "

* * *

Despite everything that has happened today, on her way back to her room, the girl could only think about how goddamn stupid it was to hear Xemnas actually say "Number Fifteen" out loud and 100% seriously. _This entire situation is fucking bullshit._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Guess who's back. Sorry for the wait I'm lazy.

* * *

The girl awoke slowly. Her eyes blinked to adjust to the scene before her… there was so much… white. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up, surveying her new room. Guess I gotta go to Where Nothing Gathers for the ceremony...

Shit.

She sat up in contemplation. Her legs dangling off of the side of her bed. She didn't feel the need to crawl back under the covers in a heap of laziness and wait until her anxiety calmed down, in fact, the strangled feeling that was usually in her chest was gone. She put a hand to where her heart would be, and let in a deep breath, which wasn't a struggle at all to do which wasn't normal. She wasn't sure how to feel about this… should she be glad that it's gone or feel alone without it?

What she should be doing is flipping her shit. She killed… god, I don't even know how many people, her friends are dead, her parents are dead, everyone is dead! If that lady summoned heartless and there are no keyblade wielders there's nothing anyone can do. The door is open.

And yet, she's here.

She's the only survivor of the apocalypse.

And she can't bring it in herself to care.

I… I should be… fuck. She looked down at her blood and dirt soaked hands blankly. She forced herself to look sad, Me not having a heart doesn't change anything, I may have died but that doesn't mean I can't be me, right? She thought, closing her fingers over her palms.

She pushed herself up and walked towards her door. There was nothing on the floor that she could trip on, she didn't have anything to change into, there was no sleep lingering in her eyes. It was hollow.

After walking down the hallway for a little bit, she realized that she had to continue her routine. Along with that realization, she realized she was a fucking mess, and not just figuratively. Like an "I'm covered in blood and dirt" fucking mess.

Suddenly, she heard a strange noise. Almost like laminated paper wobbling. A dusk came into view, it was whizzing through the hallway bouncing on its feet every once in awhile. It almost looked like it was doing a dance.

"Oh! Excuse me?" Her hand raised tentatively.

She didn't really know if that would get its attention, but it stopped and looked to her anyway. "Uh… can you direct me to the bathroom, or to the showers? I swear there was a shower room in the 358 manga..."

It… it nodded I guess? And started skipping back to where it was coming from, she struggled to catch up. Sure enough, it stopped at a doorway leading to what looked like a shower hall. "Also, alert Xemnas that I'm going to be on my way and that I'm here?" She pointed to the floor below her.

It nodded again, but before it could leave, "Thank you!" The girl waved. The way it tilted its head in confusion was actually kind of cute, the girl thought. If you ignored the zipper mouth and lack of appendages it was adorable.

* * *

The shower room was bigger than she thought it would be. There were six shower stalls, but she didn't really care to notice that right now. Despite the fact that she technically had no soul, a hot shower still sounds enjoyable as fuck.

Unsurprisingly it took a good five minutes to figure out how to turn the shower on, let alone to hot water. Once she got it goin' she turned the water to a favorable temperature, just shy of scalding, and stepped in.

The water ran over her hair, washing away the sweat and grime from her roots along with making it easier to detangle, which she just did with her hands. A shiver ran down her spine as her soreness was soothed by the water cascading over her body, she sighed with relief. The blood caked on her slowly rinsed off and gathered at her feet before being pulled away by the drain.

There was still some dried blood stuck to her hair. She looked upwards at the shower drain, and with a small huff, scrubbed her hair wildly. The silence in here was suffocating…

"Staring at the blank page before you open up the dirty window-" she flipped her hair to the side dramatically "-Let the sun illuminate the words that you can not find-Reaching. For something in the distance. So close you can almost taste it."

she looked up, putting her face under the drain as she scrubbed her hair. "Release your inhibitions-FEEL THE RAIN ON YOUR SKIN!"

She heard a clack but paid it no mind "No one else can feel it for you only you can let it in-" there were footsteps but she couldn't hear them "-no one else. no one else can speak the words in your~ LIPS!"

There was a faint "Uh… who's singing that?"

"Drench yourself in words unspoken-live your life with arms wide open," yyyup she couldn't hear him. "Today is! Where your book begins, the rest is still unwri-"

"Wait-LARXENE?! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD SING WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"AAA?!" She nearly slipped and fell, even though whoever was there couldn't see her behind the curtain she still covered up herself. "Uhh...uhhhh…. who's there?"

"... You'reee not Larxene... OH YEA! Superior mentioned there'd be a new recruit! Lucky number 13! Wait-sorry for running into you here. This is kinda awkward… Nice to meet ya though!" Holy fuck, it's Demyx.

She couldn't help but smile actually, "Heheh, yea this is real awkward…"

"Well, sorry ta bother ya, I'll see ya around then!" She heard his footsteps leaving… then she had a thought.

"WAIT! Demyx?"

"Huh?" The footsteps stopped.

"Could'ja… do me a favor actually?"

"Sure, shoot?" Thank god she ran into him actually, he really rolled with the punches (and is just a sweet person in general tbh).

"I… I don't have any type of soap in here? Is there any in the other stalls, I'm kinda covered in blood and-"

"Say no more!" There was some fast footsteps, the sound of a shower curtain squeaking against the pole, some rummaging, and then… more sounds of laminated paper wobbling? "Here!"

She nearly fell again, above the shower curtain was a twirling stream of water that was carrying some soap, conditioner, and shampoo! Oh, that's what that noise was...

"I figured you wouldn't want me bustin' in there, oh! I also got you Larx's stuff, you probably don't want to smell like a dude."

"Woah, cool!" She had to go on her tippy toes to reach em', but she got the soaps!

"Welp, I'll be on my way again, it was nice to meet ya my name is-wait you knew my name how did you know my name?"

She couldn't help but giggle, "I'm aboutta be inoculated after this I'm sure Xemnas will explain then."

"Oh, well okay!" He sounded fine with it, as happy as ever really. There were footsteps again.

"Wait! Demyx?"

He turned around, but this time her head was poking out from the side of the shower curtain. She was holding the curtain up to her chin cautiously, but she still had a radiant smile all the while. "Thanks!"

* * *

Her shoes clicked loudly against the tile. This raises the question, is the floor here waxed regularly? It's luminous, practically squeaky clean without a speck of dirt. If it is cleaned, who does it? Probably the dusks… maybe some of the members? Better not be Demyx that's for fucking sure. I've read that one fanfic. If I see his sitar try to communicate ONCE I'm gettin' rid of ALL the cleaning supplies in the castle...

Ahem- Anyways. It's not the time for that. Especially not now.

The door was growing closer, and the wobbling of the dusk leading her to Where Nothing Gathers was getting slower and slower.

The door to the place was massive to the point where if it were particularly foggy you probably wouldn't be able to see the top clearly. When she reached the entrance, the dusk looked back at her, bowed, then twirled away into the void leaving weightless particles floating away in its wake. Weird.

She struggled to push open the door and had to blink at how bright it was. You actually couldn't see the ceiling cause of how high it was it literally was concealed by fog. Now that she wasn't half-awake she could really make out the scene before her. There was the nobody symbol etched intricately and grandly into the floor below her. Each chair was an elaborate white marble pillar… perhaps doric by design? Either way, every movement reverberated off of the walls, to an extreme degree. The echo was so prominent that it almost sounded like the room was empty. She had to squint to see any of them in their chairs, she could clearly make out Vexen however, huh. His chair is really low.

She didn't know what to do, she just waited until the small conversations the members were having slowed to a halt. The feeling of being watched was suffocating, even though it's negative effects couldn't really be felt.

"Ah, our newest addition to our ranks has finally arrived." Xemnas' smooth voice never ceased to be creepy.

"Took her a while," Xigbar teasingly grumbled, then looked to her. "Why is that?"

She fumbled with her hands, thinking of how to word it but before she could, "Uh, she was taking a shower, actually."

The group fell silent and all their gazes fell to the middle right of the room. "How the fuck do you know that Demyx? What's your damage, peekin' on the new girl before she's even got a name, huh?" Xigbar laughed.

He sighed, "No Xigbar I just ran into her, you know me by now."

Sïax coughed bringing the debate to a close, Xemnas raised a hand. "Gentlemen." The two quieted down, waiting for a response. Xemnas then rose the girl, again, off the ground as he did yesterday. However, this time it was less like a forceful tearing from her place, and more of a gentle ascent to bring her to his level. She figured this is when she gets her name? She could only think back to Roxas in front of Twilight Town's mansion, or Xion on the ground below them.

She swayed up and down slightly and finally had a good look at the rest of the members. She couldn't see those behind her, or at the corner of her vision like Demyx, but yea. They were real. They were here. The reality of the situation hadn't sunken in yet, it probably would never be able to.

"On your own volition, you have chosen to seek out this castle. To me, this shows a desire for purpose. A desire to bring what you can to the collective. To help our cause, and give us the hearts we so truly deserve," every particle in the room seemed to shake with energy at Xemnas' words, "A desire it will be no longer. I can make it reality." He flicked his wrist, and the girl blinked back in surprise. Five transparent forms, best described as sheets of glass, apparated in front of her. Though they were backward from her perspective, she quickly noticed they each were a letter and that they spelled ou i. Her old name. "Shall I grant you your life? Will you join our ranks?"

She stared at the letters. Xemnas stared back. "Yes." She tried to step forward to show agreement but wasn't able to get too far.

Suddenly, he slid his hand to the right, and the letters around her started crossing around rapidly. Snaking around her so fast that they were practically a blur. He pushed his hand forward, and an X solidified, stopping the letters in their tracks.

a

Her name is Miyuxa.

"Number XV. Welcome"

The room was already silent before, but if it somehow could, it grew even quieter. Xemnas chuckled, "Ah, yes. There is some explaining to do with that choice of number."

"What do you mean she's from an alternate reality?!" Axel questioned first, ironically being the one to break the ice.

"Number XV is from a set of worlds, a universe, that is not of our own," Xemnas looked towards his immediate left and right, "We did see this as a possibility, correct?"

Vexen steeped his hands together and put them to his chin in thought. "Yes Superior, we never had any proof against it-"

Xaldin cut in "But we had nothing to prove it either. It was just a theory."

"This is our proof," Xemnas motioned to Miyuxa. "Miyuxa, Tell us what you know."

It took her a second to register that, yes, that was indeed her name now. She perked up at being mentioned, holding her hands together nervously. "I know the entirety of events of this organization. I know how it was beforehand even. I know of the six of you who broke free from Ansem the Wise and his teachings to study the properties of the heart through your own methods. Eight of you died, but were reborn as Nobodies and formed this organization. More and more members joined, and while I know up to member fourteen, you only have twelve now." She went on to explain that they will take the keyblade wielder's nobody, Roxas, and then another bearer will join, Xion. Roxas tries to overthrow the organization, then is stopped by another bearer, Riku. He is working with King Mickey and accomplices to… well then she has to explain how they capture sora and get the princess of heart's witch/nobody and yada yada yada. "That's the short term. You fail. I am here to change that." She turns to talk to the rest of the members, hand on her chest. "I know the path that leads you to eternal oblivion, so I can light the way to getting our hearts back. While I won't lead, I can help. That's all I can do." She nodded faintly to show respect.

"Hmph. I don't believe you." Marluxia said with a huff.

This sent the whole room into their own little conversations. Vexen started loudly complaining to Zexion who was having none of it. Zexion grumbled to Lexaeus who was having none of it, too. Xigbar was laughing to Xaldin, who was also having none of it. Demyx Axel and Larxene were having some other conversation that certainly wasn't on topic enough for a meeting. Saïx nagged at requested Xemnas to calm them down. And Luxord stared at his tarot, being Luxord.

Miyuxa sighed and looked back to Marluxia. "Your name before this one, Marluxia, was Lauriam. You frequently wore a black vest with a white dress shirt, and dark rosy pants to match your hair. You wanted to have a book of your own so you took the life of St-"

"Okay okay, that's enough of that-I understand now!" Marluxia grimaced. Larxene gawked.

"This definitely isn't all shite if Marluxia's frightened," Luxord said.

Miyuxa looked to the ground, worried, "I… I don't know everything." Xemnas rose a hand yet again, silencing the chatter. "I don't know much about you, ten, or nine or twelve. I know enough about the rest of you, too much about some." She thought for a moment then took in a breath. "I'm not going to pretend I know everything Superior, but I know how to save you."

He took a moment, then nodded slowly, knowingly, and dismissed the meeting.

* * *

Axel, Xigbar, Larxene, and Demyx couldn't get out of there faster it seems, although Demyx did wave a goodbye. The rest teleported away on their own accord, even Sïax mentioned to Xemnas that he was going back to his duties and left.

Xemnas teleported Miyuxa to the ground, causing her to stumble at the sudden appearance of gravity. She didn't know what she was supposed to do now, until she heard a grinding, almost rumbling sound behind her. She saw another pillar rise up from the floor, and stop at the perfect height for her to get on it. Technically, it was the thirteenth chair but it definitely wasn't in Roxas' spot.

Miyuxa looked back to Xemnas for approval, he nodded, and she got on the chair. It then rose up and up until it slowed to a stop. Her chair was probably around where the median height would be, not nearly as low as Vexens but she still had to crane her head to see Xemnas.

What proceeded was probably one of the most awkward hours of her life. She had to basically explain the entirety of the Kingdom Hearts series in as much detail as she could. And while, yes, she was practically training her whole life for this moment, it still felt weird as hell to explain what happens in Kingdom Hearts to Xemnas. In the World That Never Was. In what was basically a life or death situation.

Not to mention, that while she was telling mostly the truth about what happens in the games, she has to hide the fact that she's going to be lying the whole fucking time he thinks she's helping him. Really, she doesn't know if she can pull off convincing the organization into its own demise, but damn if she was not gonna try.

It's a scary thought, to think that she is there, right? How much of an effect could she have? She doesn't want to have one. What if the organization ends up succeeding? What if things don't go as they do in the games. Someone has to ensure that light prevails, even if that someone isn't a someone and isn't entirely made of light herself.

After luckily being able to skip over explaining how there are multiple Xehanorts, going over the confusing half-told story of Back Cover again, and bringing up all she knows about Kingdom Hearts 3, Xemnas was satisfied.

"Thank you, Number XV, for the valuable information. I will come to you for consultation whenever a major decision about our next move is about to be made." Xemnas said.

"Thank you, Superior, for letting me stay here." She gave a courteous bow, hoping that was what she was supposed to do.

"Yes, about that," That's not a good sign, "You are going to be treated as any other member of our ranks since you are now one of them. As such, you will partake in missions in other worlds to help further our objective." Oh shit, I guess she does huh? "Is the world you hail from one where fighting or magic is commonplace?"

"Well… fighting is yes, but that's only soldiers and the like, not most people including myself. And, no, we don't have magic either." Miyuxa started biting her nails. Fuck, she had to fight things? The only time she's really ever seriously fought was a couple of hours ago and she wasn't even in control of her body?! She doesn't know how to fight, let alone is she fit enough for that sort of thing.

"Ah, I see. We will have to train you then. Fear not, a couple of other members were also not versed in fighting and had to learn as well. It's something that we, as nobodies, are able to learn to do rather quickly." He closed his eyes, which caught Miyuxa off guard. He looked like he was concentrating pretty hard for a hot second, before saying, "Indeed. It seems you rather skilled in magic."

Her brows furrowed together in confusion, "What? I've never used magic before?"

"A Nobody is an entirely different entity than the person it spawned from," Xemnas explained, "While you retain the memories and some of your personality from your past self, biologically you are no longer human and thus posses powers a Nobody does. Meaning, you have the ability to wield a weapon. Nobodies such as ourselves have unique abilities and attributes as well, and I sense a large pool of mana flowing within you." She looked at her hands, wondering how she would even go about using magic, one part of her not really knowing what to say while the other was too excited at the prospect of being able to use spells and shit.

"There is no time to waste," Xemnas continued, "I shall have our most skilled magic user train you in order for you to begin carrying out missions."

Wait.

What?!

Her stomach dropped.

Suddenly she wasn't excited anymore.

The most powerful magic user?

SHIT?!

That has to be-

Xemnas raised a hand and opened a portal on one of the seats to his right.

Ohhh fuck.

God really wasn't on her side, if he was real.

Number goddamn six, Zexion, appeared through the portal. Purple smoke and ash fizzled into the air around him, as he looked to Superior, and then to Miyuxa.

Fuck.

"Number VI, welcome back," Xemnas said, "I apologize for pulling you from your work unprompted, however, there is a more important task at hand."

His one visible eye narrowed for a moment as he stared at Miyuxa blankly. He suddenly blinked and looked to Xemnas, brow raised. "This one is powerful in magic?"

She looked to the ground, cursing at herself for somehow managing to blush despite the fact that she doesn't really have a cardiovascular system anymore.

"Indeed," Miyuxa was suddenly distracted because finally, Xemnas started a sentence with 'indeed' we are officially in Kingdom Hearts everyone, "You already know how this works, Number VI." Zexion nodded, as Xemnas continued, "I will be putting you on the training shift with Number XV for a month. This should be enough time to teach her the different disciplines of magic, yes?"

"Of course, Superior," Zexion replied, "Training base one correct?"

Xemnas nodded, before dismissing them. Zexion teleported away to what she assumed was 'training base one' while Miyuxa, on the other hand kinda just stared blankly at Xemnas both trying to process what was happening and unsure how to teleport there in the first place. After a moment Xemnas realized why she was still there and opening a portal for her, giving her a final request to ask Zexion to teach her how to operate the portals. She thanked him once more and was off.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

It turns out that 'training base one' was a little different than she was expecting. She thought she was going to get the training room in Days, aka the place where you fight Xigbar in KH2. The room looked pretty similar to it yes, due to its plus formation and detailed floor. However, the middle of the room was much wider than the platform in KH2. The empty space between the wall and the floor was much smaller, definitely not wide enough to fall into by accident. The ceiling was entirely triangular glass panels looking up at the cloudy sky above. It seemed to be still raining by the sounds of it. The way the panels were unevenly rotated created a beautiful, jagged effect that seemed almost random, as if the building wasn't built, but was naturally just like that.

Either there was a second floor to the training room, or the room itself had a tall enough ceiling to expose it to another area of the castle entirely. There was a long hallway circling almost entirely throughout the room. Its shape was also jagged, much like the ceiling, and there were railings along the edges to allow anyone on that floor to peer in and see what was happening.

Finally, there were two exits. Both had intricate carvings above them. One was one unidentifiable black symbol. It almost looked like an 'evil' version of the curaga symbol except for upside-down. The other exit had a trapezoidal covering spouting multiple sculpted wings among more futuristic designs.

Overall, the place was rather grand for a simple training area. Miyuxa was in awe. After finally ripping her gaze from the sky above, she looked to Zexion in the center of the room.

God.

It was crazy getting brought in by Xigbar.

It was crazy having to explain to Xemnas the Kingdom Hearts extended the timeline.

It was crazy having the fucking world end.

But this?

Meeting goddamn Zexion? Her mother-fucking 'husbando' since ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?

Too much.

"So, you are from a world that doesn't use magic, right?" He looked really bored. She nodded tentatively, "Right. Technically it does have magic, which is why you are here in the first place. Your people just haven't learned to utilize it yet, or perhaps they lack the proper tools…" He trailed off, looking at her expectantly, "Could you summon your weapons?"

"Oh, y-yea, I think I can?" She closed her eyes and held out her hands clearly concentrating really hard, but after a few moments, nothing ended up happening. "Sorry, I summoned them before without thinking… I don't really know how I did it." After a few more minutes of trying through awkward silence, she managed.

Two perfume bottles appeared in her grasp. Now that she wasn't on a murderous rampage, she could actually focus on them. They were made purple/pink transparent glass. The glass was also really thin, and perfectly blown. The nozzles were long and sharp, very sharp, almost like thin daggers, really. There was a long tube as well connected to a heart-shaped pump (although the metal around it made it look like the nobody symbol). They were the perfect shape to hold in her hands, they were made to fit there.

Actually, she now noticed a difference from the last time she had them, the large ribbon around it had the nobody symbol on it, along with the roman numerals, XV.

"Oh?" Zexion remarked, "Unconventional weapons… these certainly seem to be best utilized with magic, although I imagine you don't know how to use them?" He tilted his head as he asked.

Miyuxa blushed, fuuuck why does he have to pull that dream drop shit it's too cute. "N-No, I only used them like knives? Like, to make physical attacks? And… stuff…" Fuck! She's dying over here!

Zexion sighed, "Luckily for us, then, magic isn't something that we need to channel into a weapon. It's more effective that way, yes, but it's much simpler to use ourselves," He held out a hand and a blue flame ignited above it, "To channel energy. We can start off without your weapons."

"Oh… okay." Miyuxa replied, managing after a moment to cast away her weapons.

Zexion extinguished the flame, "We'll start out small, with fire." A swirling red orb appeared in his hand. It had intricate fire patterns on it, along with gold embellishments. Despite this, just by looking at it she could tell that it was barely solid, almost like it wasn't a physical object? It glowed with red heat.

She didn't get much of a chance to look at it though, as he tapped it with his other hand, and that same energy abruptly flowed into Miyuxa. She stumbled back a bit, tensing up. She could feel a strong warmth emanating from inside her, she couldn't tell if it was an emotional warmth or a physical one, it was just there. She actually sparkled for a minute, cells ablaze with newfound energy, it died down quickly as she got used to the sensation.

"W-whoa," She held out a hand, energy flowing from her core, through her arm, and ending with a spark at her fingertips. "This is amazing!" She couldn't help but beam.

"Yes, I would have to agree…" Zexion continued, "You're going to need something to practice on, luckily I have just the solution." Either there was a faint smug smile on his face, or Miyuxa was getting a little too excited. Small pools of black appeared on the ground, as three Shadow heartless rose up, but this time they were frozen still, not even their antennae twitched. "These aren-"

Miyuxa loudly gasped "Your illusions of course! That's a great idea!" Her eyes lit up, this was getting cooler by the second.

Zexion, however, blinked a few times clearly looking agitated. He was silent for a moment, before sighing, "Oh… Well, yes. We should start." Huh, for being a smart guy he really wasn't good at keeping up a conversation.

For the next hour or so, Zexion instructed Miyuxa on the best ways to utilize fire magic. She practiced first lighting up her hands (She almost caught her coat on fire), tried lighting one finger at a time (She did catch her coat on fire), learned how to avoid catching her coat of fire (it didn't catch it on fire), along with a couple other exercises.

When Miyuxa first woke up here and was like, 'Woah what! I'm in kingdom hearts now' she never really realized how different it was going to be from the games. While, yes, the characters and seemingly all the magic was still there and normal, using kingdom hearts magic to its full extent was a really different experience. Like, in the games, Sora would just be like "Fire!" and then a fireball would heat-seek a heartless. But Miyuxa was able to light up a heartless from a distance. She could create many other fire formations from fire surrounding her fists to a small ring of fire. Or she could just use fire magic normally, there are so many options.

It was starting to hit her, that this was real, this was different. She lit a stationary shadow again. it dissipated.

"Hm, well done." Zexion folded his arms, Miyuxa would've probably been satisfied, but right now was starting to feel a little sick and real tired. Not like 'take a nap' tired, just like a general weakness all over. It must've shown because Zexion took in a breath like he was going to say something then stopped himself. He started up again, looking less smug, "Hold on a moment." He opened a portal beside him and then stepped through it.

Miyuxa just stood there confused, and just when she started to get a little worried, he popped back through. "Follow me."

"O-oh! Sorry!" She nervously skittered into the portal. This time she was much more prepared for the darkness around her, thank god she didn't burn her entire coat off, the protection it gave her from the darkness was really, really assuring.

Zexion boots clacked against the floor. Being there. In a calm quiet place, with the darkness surrounding her warmly, almost like an old friend. It gave her a moment to breathe, and it was probably the safest she's ever felt… well, throughout her whole existence now technically.

They finally reached the exit, and when she stepped through she noticed where she was. "Oh? The kitchen?"

The place actually kinda looked like a normal kitchen. I mean it was bigger than any kitchen she's seen, but there was a large counter top, a stove, sink, toaster, fridge, a microwave in the wall. There were a couple of cupboards, a closet (a pantry maybe?) and for some reason a decorative porcelain plate on the wall with a small chicken painted on it. It stuck out like a sore thumb.

Along with that, the kitchen had a sitting area with a large table (for thirteen) next to it separated by an island counter. Any white suburban lady on HGTV would 'adore' a set like this, but would complain about how it could use 'a colorful backsplash to break up all this white.'

"I would have just given you an ether, but I realized you definitely haven't eaten yet. so here." Zexion motioned to the kitchen lamely.

That was oddly considerate

"T-thanks." She bowed slightly and gave a smile.

He sighed, annoyed, "There's nothing to thank, I'm just doing my job." Orrr it wasn't really considerate. He opened up the fridge and rummaged around for something.

If you told Ayumi yesterday that Zexion would be pulling out what was clearly a Chinese food take-out box from his fridge and ask her "Do you like Chinese food?" then she probably would've fucking died laughing. She did die laughing, actually.

He looked a little offended, but after calming down she said, "Out of all the foods I thought you guys would have on you, Chinese food was not one of them."

"...Why?!" He looked at her dumbfounded by her stupid bullshit.

"It's just… such a normal thing. We have that kinda stuff in my world and you guys having it just seems unfitting. Way too domestic," She giggled, "And yea, I love Chinese food."

"Good. It's all we got besides pita bread and grapes." Zexion pulled out a couple more boxes and two dishes from the cupboard. He started making two plates of what looked beef lo-mein, crab rangoons, and a spring-roll each.

She felt kind of awkward just standing there without really helping, she tried to offer to help but he insisted he was fine. After a while, though the silence of waiting for it to microwave was really getting to her, "Sooo… What kind of other foods do you guys have out of curiosity?"

Zexion leaned on the counter "We usually have the dusks just make us something. It's actually a kind of a wide variety of foods because we all come from different worlds with different customs. Usually, though it's some kind of meat, a starch, and a vegetable… Does your world do it differently?"

"No, it's about the same for us too… I figured that it would be mostly more Japan-oriented stuff though, I mean the games in my world were made in Japan so culturally it's more Japanese than anything."

He tilted his head, "Really?"

She put her finger up to her chin "Yea, like the popsicles in the game are always blue which is a Japanese thing, and I think you make natto at some point?" She giggled a little at that last part, god he does seem like the type of person who would actually enjoy natto sincerely. He nodded.

The microwave beeped, they grabbed their food, and they sat down at the table.

"Here," Zexion said, passing Miyuxa a bottle, "It's an ether."

"Oh! Thanks," She ripped off the plastic that was around the bottles cover and took a small sip. It didn't taste bad at all, but it had a bite to it. It was kinda like ginger tea in a way, but mintier? It wasn't bad though. She noticed it actually helped her feel better immediately, and the same feeling of energy flowing through her came and went again. "And, thanks for the meal too."

The conversation died there as they started eating. It wasn't half bad.


End file.
